A Reluctant Mako
by deadsylifer
Summary: Mako and Korra have a moment. More of a one sided Makorra, on his part


Mako straps on his wrist guards, thinking about her again. He sighs, this small obsession of his is killing him. He's always dodging her when she comes to the apartment. When she comes to practice, he is curt and distracted. He can't believe Bolin hasn't made a pass at her. His brother has made it his personal goal to chase every woman aged 18 to 40 in the entire Republic City.

Logically, he knows this little infatuation of his is going nowhere fast. Maybe he likes it that way. He is a lot of things, but a risk taker is not one of them. If he never says anything to her, then she can't turn him down, right? Seems the safest course of action. The team can't afford to find a third Waterbender.

He is so deep in thought that when the object of his thoughts touches his arm, he jumps out of his skin and whirls on her with flaming fists. "Sweet Agni, Korra, how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on a Fire Bender?" She winces, withdrawing her hand. He barely hears her mumbled 'sorry', too busy being a little annoyed with himself. He should have heard her, its not like Korra ever did anything quietly. Determined to ignore her, he rolled his shoulders and neck to 'loosen up'. She walks a few paces away and sits on a weight bench. He can feel her eyes on him and his skin warms considerably.

Somehow, knowing she was there watching him, only served to increase the tension he was trying to relieve. If there was one thing Korra had mastered, it was making him uncomfortable. "Did you want something?" he snaps.

If he had been facing her, he would have seen her smile falter just a little. He probably would have softened and tried to make the little disappointment up to her. He may not have be as suave as Bolin, but he wasn't a brute. He prided himself on being a gentleman. She is oddly quiet and the silence grates on his raw nerves.

"Whatever," he says finally giving up any thought of practice now that she is there, "I'm hitting the shower since I'm obviously done practicing in peace."

Mako stalks off and Korra sighs. She was beginning to think Bolin was just having some fun with her when he told her Mako had a crush on her. Maybe he was a little sore that she had turned him down, she thought. She heads off toward the stairs, no sense in sitting alone in the gym.

He takes his time in the shower, letting the hot water cascade over his sore muscles and wash the sweat off his lean body. One innocent little touch and she got his blood pumping faster then one of Toza's training exercises. He was being ridiculous. Korra was obnoxious, rude, loud and almost always physically violent. There was no reason he should like her.

When he looked into her eyes- eyes so shimmering beautiful that they dulled the blue of the sparkling waters of Yue Bay- all he should see was the cocky, arrogant girl she was. Looking at her body as she moved, he should only see the lean, muscled body of his Pro-bending teammate.

He should not see her radiant smile and it should not set fire to his blood. He should not let his eyes drift lower to perfectly round breasts, jutting up from her snug Water Tribe clothes, daring him to test how well they would fit into his hands- his guess was perfectly. He should stop looking long before his eyes drift over her tiny waist and curves that he can only dream about- frequently.

He doesn't need the added distraction of her in training shorts- she wears them because she is so much more used to the cold and quickly over heats during practice- revealing far too long legs wrapped in silky caramel skin. And Agni help him if she bends over to pick something up in front of him again...

He growls in frustration, switching the water to straight cold and clenching his teeth as it rains icy stinging daggers onto his skin. But, hey, he needed that. Steam fills the room as the water cools him off and, after a few minutes or pure torture- and not even the good kind!- he shuts of the water. Toweling dry, he hopes she isnt waiting just outside the door to torment him.

Slipping into a clean shirt and baggy pants, he pads, bare foot, up the stairs to the attic apartment he shares with his brother. It's strangely quiet and he's glad to be alone, for once. Everything in his life was carefully ordered, carefully planned and adhered to. With Korra, all his careful plans were washed away like sand at the shoreline. She was reckless and unpredictable. He drops his shoes just inside the door and heads toward the bedroom he shares with Bolin.

The room is dark, but he's used to that. He makes his way to his- cleaner- side of the room, not even bothering to light a fire in his palm. He finds his lamp exactly where he left and lights the small wick, turning. He almost drops it in surprise. "Hey," Korra says, sitting cross legged on his bed, idly twisting his scarf in her hands.

Still reeling from his second heart attack of the day, he sits hard on the edge of the bed. "Are you trying to kill me?" he chokes out. His heart is hammering and he runs a hand through his hair, scrubbing it over his face before dropping it against his thigh.

Her smile is devastation to his already weak heart. "I didn't want to scare you," she says, shrugging.

He looks at her incredulously. "Then sit on the couch, in the light," he says, heart pounding, "Not in the dark, on my bed, looking like a crazy person holding a perfectly good restraint that you could use to tie me up before you kill me!"

She laughs and despite his irritation over being scared by her- again!- the sound washes over him like tiny, tinkling bells. He loves her laugh, he can't help it. He sighs in defeat.

"So I talked to Bolin to make sure I wasn't stepping over any bounds and we agreed it's probably in your best interest for me to say this to you," she says, nervously twisting the scarf again.

"Say what?" he asks, already dreading her answer. It can't be good if whatever she and Bolin talked about makes her nervous. He picks up the glass of water sitting on the nightstand and takes a long drink, his throat is suddenly dry.

"Take off your shirt and lie down," she says innocently, "I'll explain everything."

The water shoots across the room and he is up like a shot, choking on what was left of it in his mouth. "What? Are you insane?" he croaks. He is backed halfway across the room before she can answer.

She rolls her eyes. "Look, I know you aren't exactly Mr. Touchy-feely," she says, "But I can't give you a back massage from ten feet away with a shirt on."

"A back massage?"

"Yeah," she says, looking at him quizzically, "What did you think I wanted?"

He wisely chooses not to answer but feels the heat creep up the back of his neck anyway. He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to cover his embarrassment. "I don't think thats a very good idea," he grits out. Just the thought of her running those long, tapered hands over his bare skin has the blood from his cheeks rushing south fast. He could already tell he was in for another cold shower, soon!

"Oh don't be a baby, Mako," she half whines and half pleads, "I need to work on my healing or Master Katara will freeze me to the Air Temple wall. Wouldn't you sleep better without so many stiff muscles?"

He could immediately think of one muscle she could work on- then he might actually get a full nights sleep! He groaned inwardly. Bolin was right, he needs to get laid! "It's late," he tells her, trying to switch the conversation away from sore subjects, "Shouldn't you get back to the Island?Tenzin will be looking for you." And I do not want him to find you in my bed while I'm half naked, he adds silently.

"Bolin got me a 'hall pass'," she says with a grin, "I can stay the night so we can start training early in the morning."

He vows to kill his brother slowly. "That's... swell," he grumbles.

"Mako, are you alright?" she asks, getting up and heading toward him.

He wants to say 'no', but he nods anyway and holds up a hand to stop her from getting to close. Faking a yawn, he stretches and edges around her, toward the bed. "Well, I guess we should turn in," he says, "Tenzin is right, practice comes bright and early." She makes no move to leave, instead crossing her arms over her chest and giving him 'the look'. "So, out you go," he tries, sitting on the bed.

He realizes his mistake a moment too late as she corners him, standing far too close for comfort. If he gets up, he will be pressed against her. He looks up at her, feeling trapped, but not at all sure he dislikes it. His hands itch to grab her around the waist and toss her to the bed beside him. He tucks them inconspicuously under his legs. He wonders how she can look so innocent and so mischievous at the same time.

"Please, Mako? I promise it will help." He clenches his jaw. A tiny part of him had to admit that having a girl like Korra beg him to let her touch him was ego-boosting, to say the least. Bolin's fascination with fangirls suddenly makes a lot more sense to him. "Please?"

He closes his eyes, already mentally kicking himself for willingly allowing her to torture him. "Fine," he growls.

The giddy grin on her face disarms him and before he has recovered, she is tugging the hem of his shirt up. His gut clenches as her nails scrape the sensitive skin of his abdomen. He knocks her hands away. "I can do that," he covers quickly, thinking he imagines the disappointed look on her face. He knows his face is bright red. Yanking the shirt off and tossing it onto the stand, he turns onto his stomach and holds his breath, tensing.

As soon as he is comfortable, she climbs onto the bed and he can feel it dip under he slight weight. Instead of settling next to him, like he thought she would, she straddles him. Her bottom rests snugly against the backs of his thighs and he seriously wishes he could bang his head on something hard.

When she scrapes her nails slowly upward from his lower back to his shoulders he has to bite his tongue, hard, to keep from moaning. He is half convinced she just plays innocent in all this. He immediately suspects Bolin had a hand in his immanent demise. "Wow, Mako, you are rock hard," she says, sliding her hands over his skin.

He grits his teeth. You have no idea, he thinks darkly, tasting blood in his mouth. He wasn't entirely sure what he had done wrong for Agni to be punishing him like this, but he would be lying if he said it didn't feel amazing.

She starts low on his back, finding the hard knots under his skin and rubbing them away. By the time she is half way up his back, she has to lean forward and her breasts are brushing against his back. He buried his face in the mattress to stifle a groan. "Did I hurt you?" she asks. He shakes his head 'no', now a willing participant in his own death.

Scooting up, she repositions herself over the small of his back and he realizes with a jolt that she has stripped out of her pants and in scantily covered by her workout shorts. He gave up trying to cover the noises he made after that, she had won. Her nearly bare thighs slid against his sides, the friction doubling the heat his body was already putting off.

"You are so hot right now," she comments innocently and his traitorous mind takes it in a whole new, far less innocent, direction. She works the last knot free and lays against him, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Feel better?"

"Mhmm hmmm," he mumbles. His back felt marvelous and he is more relaxed then he has been in.. well, he can't remember feeling better, ever. Her slight weight was more than comfortable and he felt himself drifting off despite the fact that he was harder then a rock slab.

He woke up, hours later, to Bolin's low whistle. His obnoxiously grinning brother was making googly eyes and pointing to the sleeping girl tucked against his chest with her head under his chin. They must have shifted at some point he realizes and his arms tighten around her, just a little, protectively. "Not one word," Mako growls quietly, glaring menacingly.

"Notta one, Bro," Bolin agrees.

The last thing Mako see's before he extinguishes the lamp, is his brothers huge smile. He sighs, burring his nose in Korras hair and wondering when the smell of salt water has become so damn sexy. He falls asleep grinning like his idiot brother.


End file.
